I’m not sure how Midway, the turtle, got her name, but it is worth noting that the stomachs of 98% of the Laysan and black-footed albatrosses breeding on Midway, the Pacific island, contained plastics from the notorious “Pacific Garbage Patch,” a soup of discarded waste larger than the state of Texas. If you are interested in this issue, (and have a strong stomach,) take a look at artist Chris Jordan’s website.

In what certainly ranks as the understatement of the week, Aquarium staff member Kate Dittloff noted that the ingested plastic “should drive home the importance of being mindful of our waste.”

Bo Petersen covered a standing-room only forum in Mt. Pleasant on Tuesday at which Congressman Mark Sanford and state senator Chip Campsen, joined by the Conservation League’s energy director, Hamilton Davis, condemned offshore exploration as a threat to the economy and the environment of the coast. Senator Campsen emphasized the disruptive, dangerous and under-appreciated on-shore impacts. Congressman Sanford argued that the true conservative response would be to defer to local governments, which are closer to the public than either Columbia or Washington. So far Governor Haley is unwavering in her conviction that exploration and drilling can be done in a way that “protects and never compromises our environment.”

This point of view has been refuted consistently by disasters like the Valdez spill in Alaska, the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf, and just this year, another major spill in Santa Barbara. Past a point, maintaining an opinion that is fundamentally counter to reality can be a result of “motivated avoidance,” a psychological term I’ve mentioned before. It basically means people are very good at rejecting facts that run counter to their goals and aspirations. This can be a big problem when important decisions depend on a clear-eyed view of the world.